Reply by surrywood

Very excited about this thread. My wife and I just bought a new house and will be moving into it in April and it has a bigger shop than what I had. A year or two ago I built a Nicholson style (my first REAL woodworking bench) and it has been in storage since this past May. It is Ok for most things but I want to build something that will allow me to do the handwork better, like a wagon vise or similar. I like the Euro style a lot but I also like the Roubo and the Moravian. I used pine for the whole first bench but on this build I was thinking of a hardwood top, 3” thick with pine legs and stretchers (for the sake of expense), about 72” long and 24” wide. I have never used one with a tool tray so I don’t believe I will have one. Before Christmas I bought one of the Harbor Freight models to be able to work out of a bedroom of the house we are renting and it is alright for really light work but not for getting serious (not real sturdy), plus it is too short and not deep enough for my taste. I have scoured the site for info and researched all over the place and I really like the various things out here. I guess I would like one bench that does everything I have seen and I am afraid that when I build it will look like the Stanley 45 of benches :)
Keep the good stuff coming, there is a whole lot of great info here from a whole lot of great people